January 10, 2009

Israel

Israel was founded the year I was born. That means that the people who resettled there have almost died out. People the ages of my grandparents and parents are the ones whose families were murdered wholesale by Hitler's policies.

Israel started with a great well of good will from the west. Its immigrants ha a huge amount of moral stature, and a will to never again be victimized.

But what is it we see now? My sympathy is growing shorter and shorter. Sure, "Never to forgive, never to forget!" is a stance that many peoples in the Middle East have. This actually makes Israel a great deal like its nearest neighbors, who think that Spain still belongs to the family of Islamic territories.

Of course "Let's be suicidally stupid!" is another description of the behavior by nations of that region -- and Israel is not an exception.

They are treading awfully close to rogue status. What -- they think that if Bush can do it, so can they? [Just another argument for indicting Bush, Cheney and the other outlaws, IMO.]

No. Killing children, targeting civilians and international targets is just plain over the line. Israel has to stop behaving like everything it used to despise. They have pretty much used up all the moral high ground their ancestors bought. The actors now are new generations, and they have wasted the capital bought by the blood of their ancestors. If they are criminals now, they have to be stopped.

What a terribly biased post. Is Israel perfect? No. Settlements are wrong. Less than equal status for Israeli-Arabs is unjust. However, when you are surrounded by people and nations that do not want peace with you, but wish to see you annihilated, you must react accordingly. When your enemy hides inside mosques or within communities or hospitals, and uses its own people as human shields as it launches rockets down on innocent people in a democratic country, you must defend yourself. If the people of Gaza do not want to be cut off from supplies, power and food, let them disassociate themselves from Hamas.

Israel has flaws and they are readily apparent. Attacking Israel, though, and completely ignoring Hamas and other Arab groups and nations who refuse to allow Israel to be is dishonest, immoral and unfair.

Bias is the exact, correct term. I used to think all the right was on Israel's side. Then I started watching more carefully to see who broke peace and how -- and to see who used what tactics.

I'm now on the "if it oinks like a pig" side of the question. Israel no longer has an automatic pass from me. This is because of observation. Observation that tilts a previous assumption could, indeed, be called a bias. My bias now is to not start with an automatic yes for Israel.

I used to feel great sympathy for Israel and thought the citizens heroic. No, I don't expect perfection from any nation; but I do expect them to treat other people than their own as they would like to be treated. Making an effective "ghetto" of Gaza and then wondering why Hamas attacks, and disproportionately attacking back is not my idea of ethical. They have become what they ran to Israel to escape. (BTW..my email addy is an unused one, it will not accept my gmail address as valid for some reason--I am labrys6 there)